According to a story in this week’s Catholic weekly, The Tablet,
the attendance of Pope Benedict at the 50th International Eucharistic
Congress in Dublin next year is looking increasingly likely.
According to The Tablet (http://bit.ly/mgwGdQ/)
Archbishop Piero Marini, the President of the Pontifical Committee for
International Eucharistic Congresses, gave “the strongest hint yet” that
Pope Benedict XVI will attend the Congress, which takes place from June
10 to 17 2012.
Speaking exclusively to The Tablet, Archbishop Marini, who
was formerly Master of Ceremonies both to Pope Benedict and Pope John
Paul II, said in Dublin last week that he was hopeful Pope Benedict will
officiate at the Congress's closing liturgy on June 17 at Croke Park.
He told The Tablet he "hoped the gathering for the Eucharistic Congress in Dublin would be presided over by the Bishop of Rome.”
While the Congress’s opening ceremony is confirmed for the RDS and
will be performed by the papal legate, the statis orbis will take place
at the Congress’s other key venue, Croke Park, which has a capacity of
over 80,000.
On the first day of the three-day gathering in Dublin at All Hallows
College last week, Cardinal Seán Brady and Archbishop Diarmuid Martin
met members of the Pontifical Council for the International Eucharistic
Congress to update them on the preparations being made for next year's
Congress.
Secretary General of the organising committee, Fr Kevin Doran, told
83 delegates from 70 countries that online registration for the event
was now officially open and bookings had already been confirmed by
groups from the UK, Canada as well as Taiwan, the Ivory Coast and
Paraguay.
A host of high profile international speakers have been lined up for next year’s Congress, the theme of which is The Eucharist: Communion With Christ and With One Another.
Daily crowds of up to 25,000 are expected to participate in workshops
and catechesis sessions at the RDS given by leading bishops,
theologians, Anglicans and members of the laity.
Amongst the confirmed speakers at the Congress are Cardinal Peter
Turkson, President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace;
Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga of Honduras who is President of
Caritas Internationalis; Brother Alois, Prior of Taizé and Archbishop
Michael Jackson, Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin.
Ahead of the International Eucharistic Congress next year details are
now available for a National Eucharistic Congress in Ireland at Knock
at the end of this month.
The National Congress brings parishes and dioceses together to
celebrate the Eucharist.
During this month's celebration twenty-six
candles will be blessed, one for each of the Cathedrals in Ireland.
The
candles will then be brought back to each diocese and will form part of
the celebrations for the Feast of Corpus Christi.
In his address to the international delegates last week, Archbishop
Diarmuid Martin of Dublin told the assembled bishops and archbishops
from dioceses across the world that the Irish Church is facing “a
challenging path of renewal.”
He said the presence at the Eucharistic Congress of pilgrims from
around the world would constitute an enormous encouragement to the Irish
Church in its efforts at renewal and would be “a sign of solidarity and
support for the Church in Ireland.”
In his address entitled, Statutory obligations in the year preceding
the International Eucharistic Congress, Archbishop Marini spoke about
Eucharistic ecclesiology and the practice of Eucharistic devotions.
Speaking afterwards to CiNews, Mgr Marini described the Eucharistic Congress as “a celebration of unity.”
He said, “The celebration of the Eucharist is a communion – koinonia –
both with Christ and with one another. So the whole scope of the
Eucharistic congress is actually to bring together many different
elements which can have their own distinct significance but which all
belong to the one unity.”
Bishop Donal McKeown of Down and Connor praised Mgr Marini’s address
saying it suggested that any devotion to the Eucharist without a
recognition of the communal dimension of Christ’s presence among us is a
misunderstanding of why Christ came.
Asked if he was concerned that the numbers attending the Congress
next year might be small due to a lack of enthusiasm for the event,
Bishop Philip Boyce of Raphoe told CiNews, “It is very hard to
say what the numbers are going to be like. I think the important thing
is not the number you are going to have but what people understand about
it.”
Referring to the pilgrimage of the Congress Bell around Ireland’s 26
dioceses, Bishop Boyce said, “We thought that could be in some ways a
flop. A lot of priests didn’t understand it. Yet, so far it has been
very successful and it has raised a lot of enthusiasm and awareness of
the Congress.”